My civic is parked in a garage beneath my apartment building. The temp in there doesnt get below 40-45degrees. It has been sitting there for 3-4 weeks without getting started or moved.

A few days ago I went to take the car out and the engine just doesnt quite turnover. The battery is brand new and purchased in Novemeber of this past year. Just to make sure the CCA wasnt too low, I tried to jump it from a friend's car. No dice, same thing. It is really weird, it wants to start, sounds like it is almost going to start and then just doesn't.

Any thoughts or suggestions for next steps?

Much appreciated.

 

First, clean the battery posts, connectors, and ground wire connection in the engine bay with steel wool. You need to ensure good electrical contact at all these points. Next try to start the engine without a jump, or with a jump if cranking seems low. Post your findings if the engine still won't crank properly or start.

 

also since it's been sitting for 3-4 weeks, it might be a good idea to give the car a little gas as you start it. although you say that your battery is a new one (Nov), any new battery will drain over time. So another thing to do is to get the battery to a parts store and have them charge it up and that should eliminate your battery as the source of the non-start.

do you have a stick shift? could a push start help here?

 

Unfortunately, it is not a manual. So, a push start won't help. I will try the two tips mentioned thus far.

Thanks.

 

Alright, here is an update.

We replaced all of the spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, and rotor.

We still have the exact same result.

We don't think the spark plugs are firing at all. There is definitely gas getting to the engine, as the spark plugs smell like gas after we tried to turn the engine over and pulled the plug back out.

What is the resistance supposed to be across the engine coil? We saw .84 ohms in one scenario and 16 kOhms across another, not sure if that helps.

So... not sure where to look next, thoughts?

 

 

The engine coil is like the second one shown in that picture.

The resistance between terminal A and B was .84 ohms and the resistance between A and secondary winding terminal was 16 kOhms.

Do you think that the .84 ohms might be preventing the plugs from sparking completely?

Other things that I have read have suggested perhaps the ignition control module is has gone bad, any thoughts on this?

 

First make sure the distributor rotates when cranking. If the timing belt is stripped, the distributor will not rotate and there will be no sparks.

Ohmmeter tests on a coil are not conclusive. Some bad coils will pass the ohmmeter test. Your coil seems to be failing the ohmmeter test anyway though. Make sure your meter is OK though, it should read 0.00 when holding both leads on the same terminal so you have a short circuit.

Check that battery voltage is reaching the two small terminals on the coil with the key on. You can follow one of the wires out of the distributor and test it there.

You can do a spark test right at the coil. Leave the distributor cap off but have the plastic insulator plate in place. Take a piece of test wire and ground one end. Hold the other end near the output spring on the coil (with your hand well away from the coil) and crank the engine. You should get big blue sparks, jumping more than 1/2 inch. If you only can draw little yellow or orange sparks, the coil is bad. If you get no sparks at all it could still be a bad coil, or it could be the ICM or the ECU, or the car wiring is not powering up the ignition system. Bad ICMs are rare compared to coils.

 

Ok, so two things to test based on the previous post...

1) Remove the distributor cap, and verify that the rotor is turning when cranking

and

2) Ground a wire and verify that blue sparks are jumping to the grounded wire off of the end of the output spring on the coil

If 1) fails probably a timing belt issue and if 2) fails, the engine coil might be bad and should be replaced.

Thanks.

 

i was in a similar situation, brand new battery, sat for a few weeks, STARTED to turn over, and not quite. Wouldn't even take a jump. So i brought the battery inside for 3 or 4 days, let it warm up, ran back out, hooked it up, jumped it, worked perfectly. Worth a try.